Pages

Monday, June 13, 2016

Double-digit Asia growth drives record arms sales

A buying spree in the Asia-Pacific region propelled double-digit growth in the global arms market last year to a record $65 billion (57.7 billion euros), defence analysts IHS Jane's said Monday.

Defence imports by Asia-Pacific nations soared 71 percent in a "spend surge" between 2009 and 2016, the analysts said, helping the global arms market jump 11.3 percent or $6.6 billion last year. South Korea rose from being the seventh biggest defence importer in the world in 2014 to fifth largest last year, purchasing arms worth $2.2 billion. Three of the top 10 countries with the fastest growing expenditures were in Asia-Pacific: Vietnam, Philippines, Bangladesh.

IHS Jane's predicted that the global arms market would grow further in 2016 to $69 billion, pointing to India's inability to manufacture the defence equipment it needs to replace ageing stock. Large numbers of India's fighters and submarines need to be replaced.

On the exporting side, IHS Jane's found that Germany rose from being the world's fifth biggest arms exporter to third biggest in 2015 with sales of $4.8 billion.